DESCRIPTION: This is a request for partial funding for a conference sponsored by the Alcohol Research Center (AA 09803) of the Louisiana State University Medical Center titled "Alcohol, Infection and Host Defense". The conference, covering the subjects of "HIV/Alcohol/Immunopathology" will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana on Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18, 1997. It will last two days and will consist of four sessions. Each session will have a lead speaker and four to five other invited speakers. Time and space will also be provided for oral presentations and poster presentations by attendees who submit abstracts. Thus the two day meeting will consist of approximately 20 oral presentations by invited speakers and approximately 6-10 oral presentations selected from submitted abstracts, as well as posters. The four sessions will have the following themes: 1) Edmol, HIV and Infectious Disease; 2) Ethanol and Altered Immunity; 3) Ethanol and Alterations in Signaling Pathways; and 4) Ethanol and Oxidative Tissue Injury. An outstanding group of investigators (both basic scientists and clinical investigators), have agreed to present up-to-date information on a variety of topics that are at the cutting edge of their respective research fields. The areas of discussion that will be addressed in this meeting have impact on immune deficiencies, immunology and infectious disease, by elucidating the cellular mechanisms of ethanol's effects on HIV infection, the immune responses and tissue injury. These areas of discussion will provide insight into cellular mechanisms of immunopathology with the potential for therapeutic advances in the treatment of ethanol-induced or ethanol potentiated disease or injury. The conference will provide a forum for exchange and cross fertilization of ideas and potential development of collaborative research into the immunopathology of ethanol. Material presented by the speakers will be published and widely distributed.